I. What Is Conflict?

Interpersonal conflict is a process that occurs when one person, group, or organizational subunit frustrates the goal attainment of another. In its classic form, conflict often involves antagonistic attitudes and behaviours such as name calling, sabotage, or even physical aggression.

II. Causes of Organizational Conflict

It is possible to isolate a number of factors that contribute to organizational conflict.

A. Group Identification and Intergroup Bias

This is the tendency of people to develop a more positive view of their own "in-group" and a less positive view of "out-groups" of which they are not a member.

This tendency appears to develop even when group membership is essentially arbitrary. The best prognosis is that people who identify with some groups will tend to be leery of out-group members.

B. Interdependence

When individuals or subunits are mutually dependent on each other to accomplish their own goals, the potential for conflict exists. The potential for the abuse of power in such relationships and the on-going need for coordination are both potential problem areas.

C. Differences in Power, Status, and Culture Conflict can erupt when parties differ significantly in power, status, or culture.

Power. If dependence is not mutual, but one-way, an imbalance in power can arise and the potential for conflict increases.

Status. Status differences have the greatest potential for conflict when a reversal of expected roles occurs; that is, when a high status person like an executive, finds themselves being educated on computer usage by their administrative assistant. Some executives are defensive about this reversal of roles.

Culture. When two or more very different cultures develop in an organization, the clash in beliefs and values can result in overt conflict.

D. Ambiguity

Ambiguous goals, jurisdictions, or performance criteria can lead to conflict. Under such ambiguity, the formal and informal roles that govern interaction break down and it may be difficult to determine responsibility. Ambiguous performance criteria are a frequent cause of conflict between managers and employees.

E. Scarce Resources

Differences in power are magnified when common resources are in short supply. Resources may also act as buffers in sufficient quantities which, when removed, allow conflict to surface. Scarcity has a way of turning latent or disguised conflict into overt conflict.

III. Types of Conflict

Relationship conflict concerns interpersonal tensions among individuals that have to do with their relationship per se, not the task at hand. So-called “personality clashes” are examples of relationship conflicts. Task conflict concerns disagreements about the nature of the work to be done.

Differences of opinion about goals or technical matters are examples of task conflict. Process conflict involves disagreements about how work should be organized and accomplished. Disagreements about responsibility, authority, resource allocation, and who should do what all constitute process conflict. In the context of work groups and teams, task, relationship, and process conflict tend to be detrimental to member satisfaction and team performance.

IV. Conflict Dynamics

A number of events occur when one or more of the causes of conflict takes effect. As a conflict begins, "winning" becomes very important, the parties conceal information from each other, each group becomes more cohesive, contact with the opposite party is discouraged, negative stereotypes of the opposite party develop, and an aggressive leader skilled at engaging in conflict may emerge. Based on these internal dynamics, the elements of this process work against the achievement of a peaceful solution and the conflict continues to cycle "on its own steam."

V. Modes of Managing Conflict

Conflict expert Kenneth Thomas has developed a set of five conflict management styles or strategies that are a function of both how assertive you are in trying to satisfy your own or your group’s concerns, and how cooperative you are in trying to satisfy those of the other party or group. Each style might have its place given the situation in which the conflict episode occurs.

A. Avoiding

Avoiding is a conflict management style characterized by low assertiveness of one's own interests and low cooperation with the other party. This is the "hiding the head in the sand" response to conflict. Its effectiveness is often limited.

B. Accommodating

Accommodating is a conflict management style in which one party cooperates with the other party, while not asserting one's own interests. This may be seen as a sign of weakness.

C. Competing

Competing is a conflict management style that maximizes assertiveness for your own position and minimizes cooperative responses. The conflict tends to be framed in strict win-lose terms.

D. Compromise

Compromise is a conflict management style that combines intermediate levels of assertiveness and cooperation. This tends to be a satisficing approach — neither true competition nor true accommodation. Compromise does not always result in the most creative response to conflict.

E. Collaborating

Collaborating is a conflict management style that maximizes both assertiveness and cooperation. Collaboration works as a problem-solving approach where the object is to determine a win-win solution to the conflict that fully satisfies the interests of both parties. It is assumed that the solution to the conflict can leave both parties in a better condition. Effective collaboration frequently enhances productivity and achievement. Collaboration between organizational departments is particularly important for providing good customer service.

VI. Managing Conflict with Negotiation

Negotiation is a decision-making process among interdependent parties who do not share identical preferences. Labour and management negotiate over wages and conditions, but job applicants also negotiate for starting salaries, employees negotiate for better job assignments, and people with sick kids negotiate to leave work early. Negotiation constitutes conflict management, in that it is an attempt either to prevent conflict or to resolve existing conflict. It is an attempt to reach a satisfactory exchange among or between the parties.

It has become common to distinguish between distributive and integrative negotiation tactics. Distributive negotiation assumes a zero-sum, win-lose situation in which a fixed amount of assets is divided between parties.

Integrative negotiation is a win-win negotiation that assumes that mutual problem solving can enlarge the assets to be divided between the parties. Distributive and integrative negotiations can take place simultaneously.

A. Distributive Negotiation Tactics

Distributive negotiation is essentially single-issue negotiation. Reaching an acceptable resolution in distributive negotiation involves both parties arriving at a point in the "settlement range", an area of overlap between each party's target and their resistance point. Several techniques can influence how that point is determined.

Threats and Promises. Threats consist of implying that punishment will be forthcoming if the opponent does not concede to your position. Promises are pledges that concessions will lead to rewards in the future.

Firmness versus Concessions. Intransigence — not moving — is often met by the same and the negotiations are deadlocked. A series of small concessions early in the process will often be matched.

Persuasion. Verbal persuasion or debate is common in negotiations. It is an attempt to change the attitudes of the other party toward your target position.

B. Integrative Negotiation Tactics

The effort and creativity required to move past "fixed-pie" bargaining can be well worth the effort. A number of factors can help to make it happen.

Copious Information Exchange. Parties need to give away non-critical information early to start the ball rolling, ask lots of questions and listen to the answers. Trust must be built slowly so that "positions" will give way to the communication of true interests.

Framing Differences as Opportunities. Differences need not represent mutually exclusive options. Explore them for the opportunity to satisfy both parties without compromise.

Cutting Costs. If you can somehow cut the costs that the other party associates with an agreement, the chance of an integrative settlement increases. Integrative solutions are especially attractive when they reduce costs for all parties in a dispute.

Increasing Resources. The ultimate solution to "fixed-pie" bargaining is to have the parties use their combined power to obtain greater resources which they can then divide.

Introducing Superordinate Goals. Superordinate goals are attractive outcomes that can be achieved only by collaboration. Neither party can achieve the goal on its own. Superordinate goals represent the best example of creativity in integrative negotiation because they change the entire landscape of the negotiation episode.

C. Third Party Involvement

Third parties may come into play to intervene between negotiating parties when an impasse is reached (labour/management disputes) or may be involved from the start as a normal part of the process of bargaining (real estate agents). Two approaches to third party involvement are mediation and arbitration.

Mediation. This occurs when a neutral third party helps to facilitate a negotiated agreement by aiding the process / atmosphere of bargaining or by intervening in the content of the negotiation. Mediation has a fairly successful track record in dispute resolution.

Arbitration. This occurs when a third party is given the authority to dictate the terms of settlement of a conflict. This usually happens when negotiation has broken down and the arbitrator has to make a final distributive allocation. In conventional arbitration, the arbitrator can choose any outcome, such as splitting the difference between the two parties. In final offer arbitration, each party makes a final offer and the arbitrator chooses one of them.

VIII. Is All Conflict Bad?

Traditionally, there has been an emphasis on the negative, dysfunctional aspects of conflict. Recently, though, there has been growing awareness of the potential benefits of organizational conflict. Some experts feel that conflict creates necessary organizational change which is necessary for adaptation and survival:

CONFLICT --> CHANGE --> ADAPTATION --> SURVIVAL

For organizations to survive, they must adapt to their environment. This requires changes in strategy that may be stimulated through conflict. This suggest that there are times when managers might use a strategy of conflict stimulation. Conflict stimulation is a strategy of increasing conflict in order to motivate change. This can occur when peaceful relationships take precedence over organizational goals or when differences are suppressed or down played. Scarcity and ambiguity can be manipulated by managers to stimulate conflict and change.

VIII. A Model of Stress in Organizations

Stress has become a serious concern for individuals and organizations. Stress can be part of the everyday routine of organizations. A model of a stress episode can provide a better understanding of stress.

A. Stressors

Stressors are environmental events or conditions that have the potential to induce stress. These can include a person's job, a person's co-workers, conditions like extreme heat and cold, as well as the hostility of others.

A person's personality often determines the extent to which a potential stressor becomes a real stressor and actually induces stress.

B. Stress

Stress is a psychological reaction to the demands inherent in a stressor that has the potential to make a person feel tense or anxious because the person does not feel capable of coping with these demands. All stress is not intrinsically bad since moderate levels of stress can serve as stimulation.

However, stress does become a problem when it leads to especially high levels of anxiety and tension.

C. Stress Reactions

Stress reactions are the behavioural, psychological, and physiological consequences of stress. Some of these reactions are passive over which the individual has little control such as elevated blood pressure. Others are active attempts to cope with some aspect of the stress episode. Reactions that are useful for the individual in dealing with stress may be very costly for the organization. Hence, organizations should be interested in the stress their employees experience.

D. Personality and Stress

Personality can affect both the extent to which potential stressors are perceived as stressful and the types of stress reactions that occur. Three key personality traits are locus of control, Type A behaviour pattern, and negative affectivity.

Locus of Control. Locus of control refers to a set of beliefs about whether one’s behaviour is controlled mainly by internal or external factors. Compared with internals, externals are more likely to feel anxious in the face of potential stressors since they feel less in control. Internals are also more likely to confront stressors directly, while externals are more prone to simple anxiety-reduction strategies that only work in the short term.

Type A Behaviour Pattern. Type A behaviour pattern is a personality pattern that includes aggressiveness, ambitiousness, competitiveness, hostility, impatience, and a sense of time urgency. Type B individuals do not exhibit these extreme characteristics. Type A people report heavier workloads, longer work hours, and more conflicting work demands. They either encounter more stressful situations than Type Bs or they perceive themselves as doing so.

Type A individuals are likely to exhibit adverse physiological reactions in response to stress including elevated blood pressure, elevated heart rate, and modified blood chemistry.

Negative Affectivity. Negative affectivity is the propensity to view the world, including oneself and other people, in a negative light. People high in negative affectivity tend to be pessimistic and downbeat. As a consequence, they tend to report more stressors in the work environment and to feel more subjective stress. They are particularly likely to feel stressed in response to the demands of a heavy workload.

IX. Stressors in Organizational Life

Some stressors can affect almost everyone in any organization, while others seem especially likely to affect people who perform particular roles in organizations.

A. Executive and Managerial Stressors

Executives and managers make key organizational decisions and direct the work of others which leads them to experience special forms of stress.

Role Overload. Role overload occurs when one must perform too many tasks in too short a time period. This is an especially common stressor for managers. Management is an ongoing process, and few managers get time to rest or even to think about a new work strategy.

Heavy Responsibility. Since managers also have heavy responsibilities, they must always be aware of the consequences of their actions. Hence, firing employees, million dollar decisions, closing a money-losing plant, or ending a strike can all serve as stressors to executives.

B. Operative-Level Stressors

Operatives are individuals who occupy nonprofessional and nonmanagerial positions in organizations. The occupants of operative positions are sometimes exposed to a special set of stressors.

Poor Physical Working Conditions. Operative-level employees are more likely than managers and professionals to be exposed to physically unpleasant or dangerous working conditions.

Poor Job Design. Jobs that are too simple or not challenging enough can act as stressors. Monotony and boredom can prove extremely frustrating to people who feel capable of handling more complex tasks. The job demands-job control model is a model that asserts that jobs promote high stress when they make high demands while offering little control over work decisions.

C. Boundary Role Stressors, Burnout, and Emotional Labour

Boundary roles are positions in which organizational members are required to interact with members of other organizations or with the public. Occupants of boundary role positions are especially likely to experience stress as they straddle the imaginary boundary between the organization and its environment.

A particular form of stress experienced by some boundary role occupants is burnout. Burnout is a combination of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment among those who work with people. Teachers, nurses, social workers, paramedics, and police are especially likely candidates for burnout. Burnout follows a stage like process that begins with emotional exhaustion, followed by depersonalization, and finally feelings of low personal accomplishment. Much boundary role stress stems from the frequent need for employees to engage in “emotional labour”. The suppression of negative emotions takes a toll on cognitive and emotional resources over time.

C. Some General Stressors

Some stressors are probably experienced equally by occupants of all roles.

Interpersonal Conflict. The entire range of conflict, from personality clashes to intergroup strife, is especially likely to cause stress when it leads to real or perceived attacks on our self-esteem or integrity.

Work-Family Conflict. Increases in dual career families, single parent families, and life spans are all contributing to conflicting demands of work and family. Many managers remain unaware of the impact of these changes on child-care and eldercare concerns and there is evidence to suggest that these demands fall disproportionately on women's shoulders with career limiting results.

Job Insecurity and Change. Major organizational changes have left many workers unemployed and threatened the security of those who have been fortunate enough to remain in their jobs. The fear of job loss has become a way of life for employees at all organizational levels. No level of the organization is immune to this stressor. Technological changes threaten the operative level. Professionals may find themselves "overqualified" in a narrow specialty no longer required. Executives are often let go as organizations thin their ranks.

Role Ambiguity. Stress often results from the lack of direction which exists when the goals of one's job or the methods of performing it are unclear. Such a lack of direction can prove stressful, especially for people who are low in their tolerance for such ambiguity.

Sexual Harassment. Sexual harassment is a major workplace stressor with serious consequences for employees and the organization that are similar to or more negative than other types of job stressors. Organizations in which sexual harassment is most likely to be a problem are those that have a climate that is tolerant of sexual harassment and where women are working in traditional male-dominated jobs and in a male-dominated workplace.

X. Reactions to Organizational Stress

Reactions to organizational stress can be divided into behavioural, psychological, and physiological.

A. Behavioural Reactions to Stress

Behavioural reactions to stress are overt activities that the stressed individual uses in an attempt to cope with the stress and include problem solving, withdrawal, and the use of addictive substances.

Problem Solving. In general, problem solving is directed toward terminating the stressor or reducing its potency. It is reality oriented and generally routine, sensible, and the obvious approach that an objective observer might suggest. Problem solving responses will often reduce stress and stimulate performance. Some examples include: delegation, time management, talking it out, asking for help, and searching for alternatives.

Withdrawal. Withdrawal from the stressor is one of the most basic reactions to stress. In organizations, withdrawal takes the form of absence or turnover. Absenteeism fails to attack the stressor directly. A well-planned resignation in which the intent is to assume another job that should be less stressful should benefit both the individual and the organization rather than a person resigning from a stressful job on the spur of the moment merely to escape stress. Use of Addictive Substances. Smoking, drinking and drug use represent the least satisfactory behavioural response to stress for both the individual and the organization. These activities fail to terminate stress episodes, and they leave employees less physically and mentally prepared to perform their jobs.

B. Psychological Reactions to Stress

Psychological reactions to stress primarily involve emotions and thought processes, rather than overt behaviour, although these reactions are frequently revealed in the individual’s speech and actions. The most common psychological reaction to stress is the use of defence mechanisms. Defence mechanisms are psychological attempts to reduce the anxiety associated with stress. Thus, they concentrate on anxiety reduction. Some common defence mechanisms include the following:

• Rationalization is attributing socially acceptable reasons or motives to one's actions so that they appear reasonable and sensible.
• Projection is attributing one's own undesirable ideas and motives to others so that they seem less negative.
• Displacement is directing feelings of anger at a "safe" target rather than expressing them where they may be punished.
• Reaction formation is expressing oneself in a manner that is directly opposite to the way one truly feels, rather than risking negative reactions to one’s true position.
• Compensation is applying one's skills in a particular area to make up for failure in another area.

Used occasionally to temporarily reduce anxiety, defence mechanisms appear to be a useful reaction. However, when the use of defence mechanisms becomes a chronic reaction to stress, it can become a problem as the basic conflict or frustration remains in operation.

C. Physiological Reactions to Stress

There is evidence that work stress is associated with electrocardiogram irregularities and elevated levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, and pulse. Workplace stress can double the risk of heart attacks. Stress has also been associated with the onset of diseases such as respiratory and bacterial infections.

XI. Reducing or Coping with Stress

There are a number of personal and organizational strategies that can help reduce or cope with stress.

A. Job Redesign

Organizations can redesign jobs to reduce their stressful characteristics. Most formal job redesign efforts have involved enhancing operative-level jobs to make them more stimulating and challenging. This is usually accomplished by giving employees more control over the pace of their work and permitting them to use more of their skills and abilities. Job design is an important method of dealing with stress because it attempts to remove stressors rather than simply helping employees to cope with stressors.

B. Social Support

The support of others can help us deal with stress. Social support refers to having close ties with other people. People with stronger social networks exhibit better psychological and physical well being. When people encounter stressful events, those with good social networks are likely to cope more positively. Thus, the social network acts as a buffer against stress. One's spouse, family, and friends as well as co-workers can provide needed social support to stress-prone individuals. Co-workers and superiors might be the best sources of support for dealing with work-related stress.

C. "Family Friendly" Human Resource Policies

In order to reduce stress associated with dual careers, child care, and elder care, many organizations are beginning to institute "family friendly" human resource policies. These policies usually include some combination of formalized social support (newsletters, support groups), material support (corporate daycare), and increased flexibility (flex-time, telecommuting, and job sharing) to adapt to employee needs.

D. Stress Management Programs

Some organizations use programs designed to help employees “manage” work-related stress. Although the exact content of programs varies, most involve one or more of the following techniques: meditation; muscle relaxation exercises; biofeedback training to control physiological processes; training in time management; and training to think more positively and realistically about sources of job stress. Tentative evidence suggests that these applications are useful in reducing physiological arousal, sleep disturbances, and self-reported tension and anxiety.

E. Work-Life Balance Programs

An increasing number of organizations are providing work-life balance programs and employees are beginning to demand them. These are programs that are designed to help employees’ lead more productive and balanced lives and can include mental and physical fitness programs, coffee bars, and cafeteria health food. Work-life programs are believed to result in lower-health care costs in part due to stress reduction.